Twisted tree

This tree has been through a lot in it's long life.

Who owns this feeder?

This cardinal camped out on the feeder.  The little birds gave him a wide berth.

Belted Kingfisher

We've been chasing this bird for a long time.  Everytime we go to the little lake at Durant Nature Park we hear the call and then see the bird whizzing out of sight.

This time I caught them from across the lake, male and female.

Male

And Female

Pairs

Everyone was paired up.

Reflections

There was nothing disturbing the lake except for a few geese and ducks.

Great Blue

This heron gave us the run around.  He flew from one tree, to the lake's edge, and back to another tree.  But in the meantime he posed nicely for me.

Nap time

Other ducks were swimming around the lake, but she just needed a nap. 

Red Maples

The brightest trees right now are the Maples, getting their seeds ready to fly.

Follow the leader

Maybe they're having a race?  Maybe they're watching something on the shore?  For some reason all of the turtles in this conga line are headed in the same direction.

Stripes

The shadows of the tree trunks made stripes on the trail.

Smells like Christmas

Walking on a trail in Blue Jay Point County Park, we smelled Christmas.  And sure enough, the trail had been newly mulched with ground up Christmas trees.  It's great to know that they get good use.

Beautiful but invasive

This beauty is a Leatherleaf Mahonia, native of China.  It was planted in gardens, and has now escaped.  It is becoming a common understory tree in Southeastern forests.

Zig Zag

This playground fence made a zig zag shadow.

Biodiversity

This is the best demonstration of the importance of biodiversity that I've seen.  Each of the cones wobbles back and forth on it's round bottom like a weeble toy.  But the one with the most levels is most stable.  Sometimes children can understand things that adults have trouble with.

Happy Birthday Mildred

The last time I visited my 95 year old friend Mildred, she gave me one sprouting leaf from her African Violet.  It has since turned into a multitude of plants that I have passed to friends as she did.  Mildred is no longer with us, but her little plants are thriving.

Have a seat

The porch at the Blue Jay Point nature center is an inviting space.

Recycled Randy

I almost said "excuse me" as I walked past.  But he's not human, made up of recycled trash.  His face is a plastic bag, his hands, steel cans, his feet are plastic bottles.  He's an exhibit at the Blue Jay Point nature center.

Blue Jay Point

Blue Jay Point County Park juts out into Falls Lake.  It's a large area with multiple uses.  A big playground, a nature center and even a children's garden.

Longleaf

The LongLeaf Pine really does have long leaves.  To me they almost look like hair instead of needles.  They are the unofficial state tree of North Carolina.

Longleaf pines used to cover a wide area of the South, but now, due to clear cutting for timber, only about 3% of the pines are left.  See here.

Good Morning

The sun was just lighting the clouds.

Great day for fishing

I don't know if the fish were biting, but it was still a great day to be out at the Falls Lake Tailrace.

Cloudy Day

The sun tried to burn through the clouds, but couldn't quite make it.

Red shouldered Hawk

This Red Shouldered Hawk was very vocal.  He sat high up in the tree giving his call (hear it here) I think there was another hawk around, and maybe he was calling to it (her?)  Is this a sign of spring?

Sunset

Every direction I looked, the sky was lit up with pink.

Of course, being North Carolina, you only see it through the trees...

Beautiful Tesla

Teslas are still rare in North Carolina.  We have many archaic laws, and one of them protects auto dealers by not allowing direct sales from manufacturers.  Even so we see them every now and then, and everyone stops and sighs with envy.
Hopefully, now that the $35,000.00  version is available, and can be bought online, we'll see a lot more of them.  I'd love to see one in my driveway...!

Falls Lake from the Mountains to sea trail

I got a tiny peek at Falls Lake from one section of the Mountains to Sea Trail.  See Here, if you haven't already.

Mountains to sea trail

The Mountains to Sea trail crosses North Carolina the long way, from the Smokey Mountains to the Outer Banks.  It winds through Raleigh and intersects with many of the parks and greenways in the city.  See here for the website.

 Trail sign at one of the many trailheads.

And here's the white trail marker that tells you you're on the right track.

Birds of a feather don't flock together

I've always heard the saying: "birds of a feather flock together".  But now that I've been doing more birding, I think that's completely wrong.  When I watch the bird feeders, I see groups of birds of many feathers all together.  

Here is a Red bellied woodpecker and a blue bird at a suet feeder.

And here's two blue birds (male and female),  a goldfinch and maybe a yellow rumped warbler.

Birds are much more inclusive than people, they like to hang out together.

Here, a pair of bluebirds and a house finch visit a pretend bird.

Reading Bemch

I don't think this is an especially cozy bench, but the theme is definately storytime.

Another physics lesson

Waves change direction around a barrier-Diffraction!

I taught this in physics class using wave tanks, and a lake is like a giant uncontrollable wave tank.  Diffraction is why you can hear conversations from another room even if you aren't in direct line with the doorway.  And why you can still receive your radio station when you go under a bridge.  See here for an explanation.  (Scroll down past reflection, and refraction.  See here and here for examples of those.

Again, Yay physics!

Theme day: Green

This month's theme is the color green.  When I started looking, I realized that there are a lot of different colors of green.  Muddy green, yellow green, gray green.